I began my career hoping to change the world from the inside of an urban elementary classroom. I soon learned that it is not mine to save. I learned that effective leadership had little to do with my position in front of the room, and rather discovered that my expertise was best coupled with my capacity to listen. Moving from this realization, I invited students to develop their own projects and solutions, offering guidance and helping them clarify their ideas. This approach made all the difference for our shared success. It still does - no matter the age or stage of the "student."

Today my "classrooms" look very different than the fluorescent-lit, desk-rowed Room 308 where I began. I am inspired now to provide learning opportunities - through teaching, coaching and consulting - that enable whole new ways of seeing and acting on what first appears to be the same ol' same ol'. With that aspiration, I co-founded The Organizational Coaching and Leadership (OCL) Group a few years ago to support individuals - at every level of an organization - to lead and to to confront our most complex issues. I teach Leadership in George Mason University's executive program on Organizational Development and Knowledge Management and serve a client base that includes international and domestic NGOs, foundations and the public sector. I served as Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer for the largest coordinator of volunteer services in the Greater Washington region and taught in a nonprofit certificate program there. I also served as the Washington, DC mayor's Senior Advisor for Education and founded an innovative elementary school in the urban community where I taught.

I am also a relentless learner. I completed my Master in Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where I was awarded the first Barbara Jordan award for demonstrated leadership and academic achievement. I am certified as a Leadership Coach by Georgetown University, and I am a trained Future Search facilitator. I continue to train extensively in a variety of leadership, facilitation and coaching approaches and techniques, incorporating both Eastern and Western traditions and beliefs.